Fishing skirts are well known in the art and generally comprise a head or collar member and a plurality of attached trailing strands made from an elastomer. The strands can pulsate to attract fish and can conceal a hook. The skirt can be formed from a flat sheet of cured elastomer which is cut to have a waistband at one end and elongate trailing filaments at the other end, and the skirt may be wrapped around a lure such as a jig or spinner in the form of a tube and attached by securing the waistband around a portion of the lure, usually a groove or collar on the lure. The skirt, being made of an elastomer, can be compounded with various colors, glitter and the like to attract fish under various fishing conditions. More than one overlapping skirt can be provided to achieve multiple layers and a variety of effects. The skirt may be attached to the lure by a flexible collar, rubber band, or may be tied on with thread.
One method of making a fishing lure skirt is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,960,580. In order to make the skirt, an apertured core of cured silicone rubber is provided. The inner surface of the waistband of a skirt blank is coated with a liquid adhesive, wrapped around the core and the adhesive is allowed to cure. To maintain tension on the wrapped portion, apertures must be formed in the waistband and passed over pins to hold the wrapped portion under tension during curing. This is a time consuming process requiring special equipment. Also, there is no opportunity to insert glitter or color to the head of the skirt.
As mentioned above, many conventional skirts have a collar having an axial bore to enable installation of the skirt over a circular collar on a lure. Many skirt designs are not well adapted for this purpose and tend to break or tear.
In accordance with the present invention, one or more flat blanks of pre-cured silicone rubber are provided having a collar or waistband portion at one end and a plurality of cut filaments at the other end. A layer or strip of solid uncured, tacky silicone rubber is applied to one surface of the waistband, with the uncured strip being on the side of the skirt which will face outwardly upon assembly. The uncured layer is soft and tacky and is furnished in calendered sheet form.
Following application of the uncured layer, a elongated mandrel is applied over the cured side, and the layers are wrapped around the mandrel, preferably by rolling the mandrel around its axis. Depending on the shape of the mandrel and the deployment of the uncured strip, this causes an open end or closed end tube to be formed with portions of the uncured strip overlapping and holding the assembly together.
The silicone elastomer employed in the skirt and the bonding strip is a high consistency solid elastomer having an addition cure such as platinum to provide the highest possible elongation, strength and tear resistance. After the skirt has been formed in tubular form, the uncured elastomer is cured around the mandrel by the application of heat, to form a resilient high strength structure with the uncured strip being cured to itself and with the pre-cured collar portion.
As an additional step, after formation on the mandrel, the outer exposed uncured layer may be coated with decorative pigments or glitter particles, and this may be pressed or rubbed into the uncured layer prior to curing. As a result, upon curing, the head or collar of the skirt will have a more desirable and distinctive appearance.
It has been found that the method of the present invention is very simple to execute and produces a very durable collar a head to the skirt, since the uncured strip can vulcanize to itself and to the previously cured skirt blank. The solid uncured layer provides a more durable structure than an applied liquid adhesive layer, and no adhesion to a separate permanent support core is required.